All it Takes is Love
by SwanseaGurl
Summary: Jackie Hyde post season 8, two shot
1. Chapter 1

I do not own that 70s Show.

The gang looked up when Sam walked in. Hyde raised an eyebrow looking at her choice of clothes. Only Sam could think of wearing a tank top and shorts when it was almost winter in Wisconsin. Not that he was complaining. Now that he was rid of Jackie, he could go back to being the cool and carefree Hyde who cared about only beer, film, sex and his El Camino. And there was plenty of sex with a stripper for a wife. So what if sometimes, ok all the time, when he was pumping furiously into Sam, images of making love to Jackie would pop up in his mind. That was to be expected after spending two years with the brunette.

He heard Jackie scoff, probably at Sam's clothes, but he didn't turn to look at her. In fact they both had neither looked nor directly talked to each other since Sam had showed up and that had been almost a month ago. Hyde found it easier to pretend he was satisfied with his life when he didn't have to see the hurt that would surely be in Jackie's eyes. Pretend nothing is wrong and you will believe it, number one rule in Steven Hyde's guide to survive a broken heart. Not that Jackie had broken his heart or anything, no he just had a bruised ego.

"Hey baby" Sam came towards him and bent forward so he got an eyeful of her bountiful breasts "I'm sorry I have been busy working this week and we haven't got much time together, but I don't have to go to work until this evening, so how about I give my man a personal strip tease?" Hyde grinned, yeah if there was one thing that could get his mind off Jackie, how it had landed back on her in the first place he had no clue, it was a striptease followed by sex, rough and hard, just like he liked it. He didn't make love to his wife, he fucked her. But with a stripper he hardly knew for a wife, love wasn't a part of the equation anyways.

"Yeah, you go on in and wait for me, I'll be right there" he said to her, patting her butt and directing her towards his bedroom. He stood up and looked at his friends, avoiding Jackie of course, smirking at them before turning towards his room. A tiny sound suddenly made him turn back and without thinking his eyes sought Jackie, he knew nobody else had even heard her because they all were still staring at the television. He would recognise that sound anywhere, it was the sound she made when she was trying very hard not to cry. When Jackie had been staying with him after her father was arrested, he had woken up many a times hearing Jackie's almost inaudible whimpers. Steven Hyde was a heavy sleeper, beer and film did that to a guy, but should the brunette even mumble in her sleep and he would wake up immediately to check on her. For a moment a pang hit Hyde's chest but when he looked at her face his heart dropped into his stomach and the pang was the least of his problems.

Jackie was sitting on the lawn chair, holding onto its sides so hard her knuckles were white and had her eyes shut tight. He could tell she was trying hard to control herself but her bottom lip was wobbling dangerously and he knew she was close to bursting into tears. All of a sudden, breathing became hard for Hyde. It was easy pretending when he was ignoring Jackie, but seeing her like this, he suddenly realized what he had done to the girl whose only fault was that she had loved him. Without thinking he changed direction and walked towards Jackie instead. Before anybody even knew what was happening he had pulled Jackie out of her chair and was leading her out to the basement stairs, encountering little resistance from the girl who was not shivering ever so slightly. As soon as he had closed the door behind them , he heard a loud thud indicating his snooping friends but he had more important things on his mind.

Leading Jackie to rest her back on the wall, he immediately engulfed her in his arms. By this time the shock factor of having Steven acknowledge her existence had passed and Jackie immediately began pushing him off her. The more she pushed the harder he held on till finally he looked her clearly in the eyes and Jackie immediately stopped. For looking back at her was the Steven she had loved and assumed dead post the stripper wife's entrance. This wasn't the guy who had told her to have a good trip, this wasn't even the guy who had showed up at her hotel in Chicago, this was the guy who had sat up nights with her when she had cried about her mother abandoning her. This was the guy who had looked her in the eye and told her she was beautiful when they had made love for the first time at the reservoir, the guy who had struggled to meet her eyes when he had told her about the nurse.

Unable and unwilling to resist anymore she clung to him fiercely, letting out all the pain that she had been hiding since Chicago and more so since Sam had entered their lives. Just a few feet away but separated by the basement door the gang were all doing their best to avoid each other's eye. Even though they couldn't see anything, the sounds coming from outside pretty much clued them in to what was happening. They could hear Jackie sobbing hard, the sound being slightly muffled against Hyde's chest, while they heard Hyde soothing her with soft words in a tone no one had heard him use before. They had of course been by Jackie's side all this time, helping her cope with her heartbreak, but it was Hyde's reaction that had them feeling ever so guilty. Ever since Sam had shown up, he had appeared nonchalant, claiming to anybody who would listen that he was happy to be rid of the bossy girl and living it up with a stripper willing to entertain all of his kinky demands. If they had walked into the basement to see him watching The Price is Right with an unreadable and faraway expression on his face, they had just attributed it to too much film or too much hot sex with the stripper wife.

Looking back now, they should have realized what was going on. But it was so hard to tell what Hyde was feeling at any given point in time. Only Jackie could tell, she could always tell, however she had stopped looking at him since Sam's arrival. They lost track of how long they had been standing there before they were suddenly alerted by a noise coming from the back of the basement, the gang all turned as one to see Sam walking towards them. "Hey, where is Hyde, I thought he said he would be right in" the clueless blonde said. Thinking quickly, Donna said in a loud voice "Sorry Sam, Hyde had to run to his store, W.B. called him with an emergency, he told me to tell you but we forgot, damn my stupid memory" she concluded with a rather loud bang on the basement door, hoping it had alerted the two clinging to each other just outside. Sam looked at Donna with confusion, turning to the three guys who were all nodding their heads rather enthusiastically. "Whatever" she huffed before turning back to return to her room.


	2. Chapter 2

_"You were so horribly blind. She was right there, she was always there to deal with your shit and to pick you up when you were falling apart. She was the one who stuck by your side through it all. Now that she's gone, you finally realize she was the one. You're too late. How could you be so blind"_

* * *

Jackie and Hyde had been in their own haze, so when they heard a loud bang on the door they immediately jumped. Jackie hurriedly pushed Hyde off her as she attempted to make a somewhat dignified exit from the Forman's. Too bad Hyde's Zen beat a hasty retreat on spotting Jackie's tears and so by the time Jackie had reached the basketball hoop near the garage Hyde was already gaining on her.

"Wait, Jackie." Hyde strode purposefully towards the brunette while Jackie just started walking faster, man was that girl fast. "Jackie dammit, listen to me" Hyde said somewhat irritably, the girl had been sobbing in his arms for the past half an hour and now suddenly she was doing everything in her power to get away from him. Taken aback when she turned on her heel forcefully, he had to fight to regain his balance while Jackie watched him with angry eyes.

"What Steven, what do you want to say?" she asked. Suddenly Hyde was nervous. What was he to say to her? How was he supposed to explain himself to her? He doubted she would accept his plea of temporary insanity. But it had to be insanity, what other reason could there be for abandoning this beautiful girl he loved so much for a stranger whose only redeeming quality was she bought him beer without him asking.

"Umm, I think we should really talk about the whole Chicago thing" he said a little nervously. He could tell Jackie was over her crying phase and was now in her ass kicking phase. He had to tread carefully unless he wanted his shins permanently bruised. He looked up when he heard a bitter laugh from Jackie. "You want to talk about Chicago huh, it's a little too late for that don't you think? I mean you got a personal stripper in there, bending to your every wish. And God, I wish that had been only figuratively. I'm sure the sex is good enough to obliterate all other thoughts from your mind, like thoughts of the girl who loved you for two years and let go of her dream job to come back and make up with you, a non-trusting, commitment phobic, stripper marrying Jackass." Her voice was rising and her face getting redder with each word, signaling the next onslaught of tears. However, Hyde knew that this time he wouldn't be able to comfort her with a hug and soft words. He would most likely receive a foot up his ass if he even tried getting close to her.

Unknown to the bickering ex-couple, the basement gang had all convened into the kitchen to watch Part 2 of the 'Seems Hyde and Jackie are back together' situation. If they hadn't been so engrossed in the drama they would have probably realized asking Kelso to keep a watch out for Sam was not such a great idea. Michael Kelso had cheated on Jackie too many times to even count, but if asked who the love of his life was the only name to come to him would be Jackie. Not that he would ever verbalize that in front of Hyde, stripper wife notwithstanding; his curly headed friend would not take well to Kelso's declaration of love for Jackie. And so when Jackie's voice began rising, Kelso forgot all about his duty and turned to look at the girl who was slowly inching off the Forman driveway while simultaneously calling Hyde a 'non-trusting, commitment phobic, stripper marrying Jackass'.

On the driveway, Hyde was trying his best to placate his girl "Doll, please listen to me. I admit I was an idiot, I didn't trust you and I should have. I shouldn't have let you go to Chicago in the first place. Because of course I saw a future with you, in fact that was the only part of the future I was sure of." Jackie immediately halted and looked at Hyde "If you could see me in your future, why couldn't you tell me that, why did it take me going to Chicago for you to come after me, why didn't you stop me before I left." Hyde knew the look in her eyes meant she was really invested in his answer. So looking straight in her eyes, he answered truthfully "Because I was angry with you, you were planning on leaving me and going just like Bud and Edna, all those years we were together meant nothing to you compared to a job. You were just going to turn your back on what we could have had because of money." The tears Jackie had been controlling suddenly rolled down her eyes "I was going to leave you for money; I was going to turn my back on a future with you for money? Is that what you really think of me, the girl who accepted a used T-shirt from you as a birthday gift? The girl who happily substituted diamonds for a burger wrapped in tinfoil. I asked you about our future Steven, and all you could say was I don't know. That is why we broke up in the first place. How was I supposed to reject a job that meant financial security for me when I didn't know where I stood with you. You know how hurtful it is to say I love you to a person who just smiles at you in response. Every time we fought, I didn't know if you would decide that you'd had enough and break up with me. I wanted you to tell me you loved me, that you wanted me with you. I wanted you to love me as much as I love you. What I didn't want is for you to say 'Have a good trip, what I especially didn't want is for you to marry a total stranger and then parade her in front of me like I didn't even mean squat to you" Unable to stand the pain that was raging through her chest Jackie slumped towards the ground and was caught by Hyde just before she could fall.

A similar storm was raging within Hyde as he held on tight to his chick, vowing to never let her go no matter how many times she called him a Jackass and no matter how many kicks to the shin he would have to endure. He had caused this, broken the girl who had loved him so much, who had healed the broken pieces within. 'Great job Hyde, you really are a Jackass' he thought bitterly to himself. "I'm so sorry baby, I'm so sorry, please forgive me baby, I never meant for you to feel that way, I was trying not to feel anything because the thought of you and Kelso was making me insane. I was only trying not to feel, I never meant to hurt you baby, I do love you. Sam means nothing to me at all. I'll send her away right now. We will work on our relationship, I don't care how long it takes and how long I'm cut off from sex. And I'll say I love you every day. I promise. You are the only one for me Jackie, please believe me" Hyde begged Jackie, horrified when he felt tears running down his face. Jackie looked up to his face and replied "All I want is you Steven, I don't need anything else as long as I have you." "You have me baby, forever" he replied, happy to have received this last chance to make things rights, vowing he would never require another one where this incredible girl was concerned.

He sat there, peppering light kisses on Jackie's hair while his friends looked on from the kitchen, now joined by both the Forman's. With the exception of Red, everyone else was sniffling, Kelso and Fez openly crying for the girl who had captured 3 of the four basement guys' hearts. If they heard footsteps coming from the basement to the kitchen, it didn't register for any of them. And so when they heard a loud gasp from the stripper, who was looking at her 'husband' clinging to his ex in the driveway, they all were as surprised as Sam was looking at Hyde.

Before any of them could react, Sam had opened the basement door with a bang and was striding purposefully towards the object of her husband's affection. Hyde was jolted when he felt Jackie being pulled from his arms. Before he could move or conjure up any other reaction than shock, Sam had reared her hand back and slapped Jackie across the face. Immediately spurring into action, Hyde stood up to face Sam while the others came out onto the driveway to support Jackie. Before Hyde could shout at Sam, Jackie caught his arm and calmly asked him "Hey Steven, what happens when Zen ends?" Smirking at the feisty girl he replied "Let the ass kicking begin grasshopper."

The End


End file.
